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Solidarity calls for United Housing Campaign |
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The Solidarity party has called for a united campaign involving Shelter, the Scottish Tenants Organisation, anti-stock transfer campaigners and trade unions to demand ‘immediate’ and ‘significant’ new council house building for affordable rent in Scotland.
The move follows on from new Prime Minister Gordon Brown signalling that councils may now be allowed to build new council housing for rent using rent receipts – a change in tone and policy from the running down of council housing in the Thatcher/Blair years.
Tommy Sheridan, co-convenor of Solidarity said “It is early days but this is a potentially welcome development and no doubt at least in part due to the votes against sell-off of the remaining council stock to private housing associations across Scotland and the UK, including in Edinburgh, Renfrewshire, the Highlands and Stirling. The policy of encouraging runaway house prices to create the illusion of increased wealth for one sector of society at the expense of shutting out the rest from decent affordable housing is now exposed as a short-termist and unprincipled disaster. What is needed now is a joint and united campaign of all those serious about addressing the problem of affordable housing to make the case for significant new affordable council house building in the immediate future”
Solidarity points out there are 200,000 people on waiting lists for affordable social accommodation for rent in Scotland, and 8,000 homeless families living in B&B accommodation. In many parts of the country house prices are so out of control that professional and semi-professional single workers in their 30’s, 40’s and 50’s and significant numbers of young couples in paid employment struggle to get a mortgage. Solidarity says that many of those are forced to live in expensive private sector rented accommodation that eats away at huge chunks of their income and provides no long term security of tenure.
Sheridan continued “Against such a background, Shelter’s proposal that 30,000 new homes be built for affordable rent over the next three years seems a very modest one, but we should all back that as an immediate first step.
“We need a legal requirement on all councils to meet waiting list need in their area, backed up with hard cash - writing off the historic housing debt of councils so they can use that money for new-builds would be a start. There must be an end – or at the very least a ten year moratorium - on the right to buy for any new-builds, so new affordable housing for rent does not go straight back into the private buyer’s market. Councils should be given the power to require developers, in return for planning consent, to hand over a percentage of properties in any development to the council for affordable renting. Finally, the term ‘affordable’, needs to be given a binding statutory definition that actually means something for those seeking, and unable to find, decent affordable housing.
“We have many new council administrations in Scotland, a new Executive in Holyrood, and a new Prime Minister. They should collectively resolve to set a bold but perfectly achievable target – that every single citizen in Scotland should live in a secure, quality, affordable house within ten years. A united movement of all who support affordable housing in Scotland could help enormously in promoting that ideal.” |
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